Customer Reviews

Mahler: Symphony No. 8

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4 star:		(4)
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During his life, Jascha Horenstein was grossly underrated as a Mahler conductor of the first rank. Despite his choice of not wanting a regular conducting post where he could polish his magnificent interpretations with an orchestra that understood his intentions with Mahler and other composers, his existing recordings show that the conceptions he shaped of these works far outshined the shortcomings in performance quality that exist. However, near the end of his life, his stature as a Mahler conductor had grown to the point where he became increasingly in demand to present these interpretations either in concert or in the studio with first-rank orchestras. During these occasions, a tape recorder was nearly always running to preserve Horenstein's performances.

It was almost certainly this performance of Mahler's 8th that catapulted Horenstein to fame as one of the top interpreters of that composer. At the very end of his life, Horenstein had just committed to disk, a studio recording of the Mahler 3rd Symphony, the second and last significant Mahler document that assured his fame as a Mahler interpreter who would be long remembered. But back to the performance at hand.

In one of those too-good-to-be-true occasions that confront us from time to time in our lives, Horenstein was presented the opportunity to conduct the London Symphony Orchestra in a special concert where there was, oddly enough, extra money found to spend on a large program, and what other work than the gigantic Mahler 8th Symphony could be found to present as an expenditure of that surplus? From October, 1958 to the performance on March 20, 1959, soloists, choruses, a performance hall (the Royal Albert Hall) and an undetermined number of rehearsals were hastily arranged. The fruits of these efforts are much evident on these two CDs, as is the dedication of those involved, particularly that of Horenstein, who most certainly gave the performance of his life. The intensity of performance causes one to dismiss what mistakes exist in the execution.

I have had this performance on LP records for a good while on the semi-private Bruno Walter Society label, which used an early stereo LP studio master pressing in poor condition of this performance as the source. It is good to now hear this performance in its full glory with the original concert tapes as the recorded source, and the sound is very good overall, for its age.

In short, buy this CD to hear one of the hottest recorded Mahler performances ever! This Mahler 8th sits atop the heap of all the others, and should remain there for a long time to come.

Horenstein's live interpretation of Mahler's 8th stands apart from any other Mahler's 8th I have heard. I have heard this work twice in live concerts -- once by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and once by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. I also have many different CD recordings of it. While I have been impressed by Solti's interpretation and others as well, they all pale by comparison to Horenstein's, which is simply overwhelming in its scope and grandeur. If I were able to roll the clock back and hear just two live concerts of this symphony, the first would be the premier conducted by Mahler himself in Munich in 1910, and the second would be this performance conducted by Horenstein in London in 1959, which I'm sure played a big part in the Mahler advent in England. The cheering at the end of the performance only begins to tell of what a deeply profound musical experience this must have been. An absolute must for all Mahler fans. If I could, I would give this 10 stars.

Jascha Horenstein, in my humble opinion, is the greatest Mahlerian ever. Other contenders; Leonard Bernstein's Mahler has the schizophrenic, vulgar and over-the-top qualities that are outstanding, but outshined by too much of neuroses and self-indulgence. Bruno Walter is tender, lyrical, but lacked a bit of edge and Klemperer is a grumpy Mahlerian; my least favourite. Both "protege" of Mahler performed only a certain number of Mahler symphonies in their lifetime and dismissed the others ala carte - Mahler's glorious Symphony no 8 being the most glaring. Coming close is newcomer Benjamin Zander, whom I heard in a lecture that this maestro is a likely inspiration, but his attention to detail and score markings sometime leaves a performance of his akin to "text-book" music. Maestro Horenstein combines the analytical observation with soul and heart, as the late maestro Barbirolli put it "feel his music in your bones". Barbirolli certainly comes close to Horenstein as best Mahler conductors ever, but Horenstein has the edge that Barbirolli lacked. And it comes to no surprise a reviewer quoted Horenstein's Das Lied as a Mahler that Furtwangler would conduct.

You see, why I regard Horenstein as the greatest Mahlerian ever is that if the great Furtwangler ever conduct Mahler in an alternate world, this is how Horenstein's Mahler sound. His Mahler Eighth is the most powerful Mahler I've ever heard. Instead of all out bombast like Solti, as other reviewers note -he shapes up the music and pushes the drama gradually while maintaining the momentum. The codas of "Veni Creator Spiritus" and Faust's final scene is overwelming, while you listen to Solti's - they wither out. I think it is perfect to what Mahler described as the sound of the whole universe resounding.

As other great live performances, Horenstein's great Mahler Eighth is without glaring distractions and flaws. The whole London audience must've caught some bloody epidemic, and coughs are recurrent throughout the whole performance. The London Symphony isn't as powerful as the present, and the brasses couldn't hit some high notes. Since there was 700+ contingent of choir and orchestra, a miss of cue will result in massive "tanglement" - choir members and soloists struggling to get back to the bars. I have to admit Part I was a little messy, and thank God by part II, everyone was on the gear. But these performances of enthusiatic but imperfect individuals are more treasured tham limb, lifeless unenthusiatic performances by so-called professional, "perfect" ensambles.

I recommend a good stereo system or the best that you have, and neighbours willing to bear your noise. Then, let Horenstein's Mahler Eighth resound. It will change the way you perceive music, and everyone around you.

I'm having a side dish of crow as I write this review, because in a write-up of the (excellent) Abbado set of this symphony elsewhere on Amazon, I harped on the shortcomings of this set. Well, let me put it this way: If occasional orchestral/vocal flubs and ill-timed audience coughing bother you, get the Abbado recording, because you won't encounter either of these problems, and you'll get the modern-day version that comes closest to this set. If, on the other hand, you can listen past these minor flaws, go for the real thing.

After writing the Abbado review, I gave a follow-up listen to the Horenstein and was stunned to find that I was just... stunned. The (occasional) sour notes, the audience noise, the near-inaudibility of the "echo" chorus at the start of Part Two, the lack of any texts in the CD booklet--in the final analysis, absolutely none of this matters, and none of it detracts from experiencing this performance in a way that's analogous to how it must have been in Albert Hall. Horenstein doesn't blast you out of your chair with the opening "Veni, creator spiritus," but by the closing bars, you're ready to join the applause that erupted that evening in March of 1959. The cumulative power of this performance is overwhelming. The level of commitment from everyone involved is that of people discovering an unfamiliar masterwork for themselves, and that's hard to match nowadays when Mahler's music is so well-known that's there's less musical and emotional risk in performing it.

Most will hear this Horenstein Mahler 8 (Symphony of a Thousand) as a "distant" sounding recording. Actually, this is much closer to what an unamplified large orchestra, chorus, and vocal soloists sounds like from an audience position toward the front of a good concert hall. Even from such a position, the concertgoer will hear, as here, an abundance of hall ambiance.

While I consider myself fairly "purist" when it comes to concert hall realism in recordings, even I would prefer less apparent distance and ambiance for home music listening. Where there is no actual visual image, I find I want a more direct sound from the orchestra. But perhaps this perspective was necessary given the size of the ensemble, which tops 700.

This is a "Blumlein" recording, which is one of the methods of making a stereo recording with "coincident" mile placement. Only a single pair of figure-eight mike capsules are used. The mikes are angled at 90 degrees from each other at a central point in front of the ensemble, with the mikes placed as close to each other as possible. For this technique to work at its phenomenal best, the ensemble must appear to subtend an angle of less than 90-degrees when viewed from the mike position. Thus, with a large ensemble like this, it is likely that the mike array had to be placed back a few rows, creating the "distant" perspective I'm describing.

Note that this live recording has a lot of coughing audible in the soft parts, with some of the coughs seeming at least as loud as what is going on stage at that point. This doesn't bother me, but for those who don't like recordings with a lot of audience noise, be aware that this audience of 6,000 seems to have at least its fair share of upper-respiratory problems.

This recording has extraordinarily low hiss for this vintage--I'm sure some modern processing was used. The mikes sound fairly flat and wide range compared to what Mercury was producing at this time and distortion seems low.

Despite the apparent distance of the recording perspective, this recording has very sharp focus and is unmistakably a single-point stereo recording. This recording also has an unusually present height illusion from the choruses--the third dimension is definitely there. For many, including me, this focus and dimensionality nicely counterbalance the apparently distant perspective. Even though it sounds like you are hearing the ensemble from back a ways, every sound is pinpointed on the soundstage and rock solid in three dimensional placement. This is one of the hallmarks of a good Blumlein recording. No other recording technique can manage this feat.

I don't hear any obvious gain riding and dynamics are quite wide; the climaxes are thrilling and both raise my hackles and send shivers down my spine. The sound should serve the composition and the interpretation. Horenstein was one of the best Mahlerian conductors, and the composer's and conductor's grand visions are indeed well served here.

There really isn't much you can say. If you don't have this, buy it. If you don't like Mahler, buy it. If you love Mahler and have every other version of the 8th, buy it. Forget Bernstein--it was this stunning, earth-shattering performance that set in motion the international Mahler revival. Horenstein was the arguably the greatest Mahler conductor of all and this performance, along with his studio 3rd, is ample evidence for that claim. An absolutely withering, numbing, staggering, once-in-a-lifetime performance, in gloriously remastered sound. Buy this.

At the beginnning of this epic 1959 performance, I was disturbed by the repeated coughs from the audience. That soon gave way to wonder and, at the end,amazement. Rarely have I heard the instruments and their separate lines as distinctly as I did here (although I have in other Horenstein performances of Mahler, too). The boys chorus is simply breathtaking. The solo voices magnificent. The climax of this work leaves one in an other-worldly state of -- what -- grace, perhaps. I broke into applause in my car, something of a risk to others, but I couldn't help it. I will not dwell on detail. I will say that this is almost certainly the greatest live performance I have heard of any work by anyone, ever. And I've been listening for quite a while. Do not fail to add this to your collection!

I don't want to rain on the parade but there is a major drawback of this recording which should be pointed out to would be buyers. While this is an extremely healthy performance of Mahler 8, the audience is certainly very sick! I assume this performance was held at the height of flu season. Part two in particular is accompanied by some extremely phlegmy coughs! I love this version but every time I listed to it I feel the need for a good walk in fresh air to assure myself I haven't picked up a bug.

Horenstein was one of the world's most impressive conductor's of Mahler and his live 1959 recording of Mahler 8 has been long sought by Mahler fans. Last year the BBC finally released it, and now its for sale in the US.

This performance in London (only 3 performances of the 8th had been given in London since its premiere) has long been credited with beginning the Mahler revival in England and it is easy to tell why. The sound of the CD is excellent, the performance astounding.

The 8th was among my favorites to start, but this CD is easily the best in my modest Mahler collection.

A must-own for any fan of Mahler or Mahler's Eighth Symphony.

Included on the CDs is an interview of Horenstein by Alan Blyth.

The extensive praise of the other reviews here is absolutely warranted by this legendary performance. Please don't be misled, however, by a couple of these reviews which mistakenly describe this as a mono recording. One may expect a 1959 BBC radio recording to have been in mono, but for some reason-- perhaps as an expirament-- it was in fact recorded in stereo and thus features a clarity that mono sound can't quite match. So don't be afraid to get this disc on sonic grounds-- it is a fine stereo recording.